I was led to the craft by a natural curiosity for knives which had been strictly controlled during the Soviet era while I was growing up. When the borders opened, it was very interesting to see what traditional knives from neighbouring Northern countries were like, to compare what we had and what we had lost in 300 years of occupation and repression.

I make traditional knives from the Baltic Sea region – sometimes as replicas from archaeological find for museums and exhibitions, and sometimes as my own interpretation of the local tradition. They are not reconstructions per se. My aim is to refine and continue our knife making tradition.

In Western Europe, some knife makers still work in the traditional way, and there are countries where the tradition did not break down. I draw on their experience, but also on ethnographic, archaeological, and excavation data.

The craft is not extinct, there are many knife makers. But I make knives the way ancient knife makers did, with wood, ancient steel, embellishments such as leather, brass, copper, my own glue, and I use traditional tools and techniques.